The present invention relates to elevation drive mechanisms and, more particularly, to a novel compact and lightweight elevation drive mechanism for rotating a storage container from a rest position to a use position.
It is often necessary to provide a compact and lightweight drive mechanism for changing the elevation angle of a case, platform or other box-like container or similar structure. This is especially true in those cases where the container is varied in azimuthal orientation by movement, such as rotation, of the structure to which the elevation mechanism is itself mounted. For example, elongated box-like containers for lighting mechanisms, such as small searchlights, lasers and the like, or single-tube rocket or missile launchers and the like, may be mounted upon the turret of a vehicle, with the turret being rotated in the horizontal plane to change the azimuth angle of the container with respect to the nominal pointing direction of the vehicle itself, and with a separate elevation drive, mounted to the side of the turret, being utilized to change the angular aspect, with respect to the horizontal plane, so that full steering in the elevation-azimuth manner is achieved. It is also highly desirable to provide an elevation mechanism with symmetry allowing the container to be equally as well mounted to either side of a substantially vertical member without requiring elevation drive modification.